Yesterday was quite a busy day for me; I found myself going from one destination to the other, so I was on the road a lot. It was during one of those moments that I had witnessed a passenger and a driver do something I could only call stupid.
So, after this passenger had gotten to his destination and made payment for the fare, it turned out the change the driver had given to him wasn't what he expected. According to him, his change was supposed to be three hundred naira, but the driver insisted it was two hundred naira, so basically a difference of one hundred naira was what was causing all the problems, which really isn't that much of an amount. It's like being given two dollars instead of three.
These men proceeded to have a little back and forth while almost hitting me in the process because I was seated in the front seat, right next to the driver. Eventually, the passenger angrily threw the change at the driver and went to take a picture of the driver's plate number before walking away while threatening to make him pay for what he just did.
The driver, on the other hand, zoomed off while reassuring his conductor, who was of the opinion that the driver should complete his change, that nothing was going to happen. He said those were empty threats.
But then the conductor has told him that the passenger wasn't just a civilian but a military personnel and he wouldn't want anything to happen to them later on, because these military men are well known for abusing their power and behaving like they're above the law.
When I finally alighted from the vehicle, I couldn't help but think about the entire situation, and I came to the conclusion that both men were dumb and probably stupid.
The passenger was stupid for angrily throwing the change he had on him to the driver because what point was he trying to make? Why would anyone choose to lose all of their money over losing just some of it.
The driver, on the other hand, was even more stupid, because why would you risk getting arrested or getting into any form of trouble with anyone, for that matter, over something as little as a hundred naira? And I say that because if eventually the military man makes good on his threat, it's going to take that driver hundreds of thousands of naira to get out of that mess.
And I know I'm not good at math, but that whole calculation sounds like a really, really dumb thing to do.